Altix (MH541v)

Altix (MH541v)
Compound Glyph

Glyph or Iconographic Image Description: 

This black-line drawing of the compound glyph for the personal name Altix (perhaps “Bathe-Eye,” attested here as a man’s name) shows water (atl) swirling around and dripping down from a human eye (ixtli), which is shown in a frontal view.

Description, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Added Analysis: 

According to Gordon Whittaker (Library of Congress, 4/18/2023), when the water is on the perimeter, such as it is here, the phonetic value is "al" and not "a." He suggests that the verb at play is altia, to wash or bathe something or someone--in this case, the eye.

Of course, looking into water is also a possibility here, and we learn from Alonso de Molina that one could foretell the future by looking into water (atl nicmana).

Added Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Gloss Image: 
Gloss Diplomatic Transcription: 

peo altis

Gloss Normalization: 

Pedro Altix

Gloss Analysis, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Source Manuscript: 
Huexotzinco, Matrícula de (MH)
Date of Manuscript: 

1560

Creator's Location (and place coverage): 

Huejotzingo, Puebla, Mexico

Semantic Categories: 
personal name
Syntax: 
noun(s)
verb
visible movement
Cultural Content & Iconography: 
Anatomy, human body parts
Cleanliness, Orderliness, and their absence
Gender (male)
Movement
Names (personal and/or theonym)
Water
Cultural Content, Credit: 

Jeff Haskett-Wood

Colors: 
black
blue (turquoise)
Shapes and Perspectives: 
frontal view
spiraling, swirling, coiling, curling
Parts (compounds or simplex + notation): 
2
Reading Order (Compounds or Simplex + Notation): 
inward (from outside in)
Glyph or Iconographic Image: 
Relevant Nahuatl Dictionary Word(s): 

altia, to bathe, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/altia
ix(tli), eye, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/ixtli
a(tl), water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl
atl nicmana, to tell the future by looking into water, https://nahuatl.wired-humanities.org/content/atl-nicmana

Glyph/Icon Name, Spanish Translation: 

Lavar el Ojo

Spanish Translation, Credit: 

Stephanie Wood

Image Source: 

Matrícula de Huexotzinco, folio 541v, https://www.loc.gov/resource/gdcwdl.wdl_15282/?sp=162&st=image

Image Source, Rights: 

This manuscript is hosted by the Library of Congress and the World Digital Library; used here with the Creative Commons, “Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License” (CC-BY-NC-SAq 3.0).

Historical Contextualizing Image: